...operators do NOT have the power to tell a customer NO. an operator must first get permission from a dispatcher/salesman who have never operated a pump for even one second in their lives. your job is at stake and we can always find a willing idiot to do what you won't.

remember this the next time you come across power lines and you'll be working tomorrow.

sincerely,

 the evil empire

dont know about you but when i get to the job im in charge not the person on the other end of the phone im the person that does say no. Not the owner or the costomer i get a lot of respect for that i can turn my truck into a trailer pump just as fast as i can unfold my boom only refused one job in 12 years its up to the cost. if they want to lug hoses around the wall i dont touch the hose on walls

thats why the customer dispieses you for making a desision, you are in charge and they do not like it because they are practicing their trade with a junior high education so you are just something to get kicked around. they think that if they waste your time and piss you off that they will not have to pay you. simple concept but true. why does the twenty dollar guy stand there and lip off to me making eighty bucks an hour. i would like to put in my work order a thirty dollar fee every time that there is a conflict so they can keep score on how dumb they are.

JJJ

That post is like shouting FIRE

in a theater. Sure to get a 'rabid response'. 

that's just one of the scenarios i came across with my previous employers. i got let go because i said no to a lot of their customers and got a reputation for being someone who wouldn't work with customers. even though i came up with viable solutions to the problem.

also you should remember that it is perfectly ok to pick up 60' of full hose because "ol' bob" would've done it.

JJJ

I work For " The Evil Empire" and have said no plenty of times and still work there. We have never had to get the ok from anyone. If it's not safe, we dont do it!! No questions asked.

If I feel the site is unsafe I say no, and my company will stick by me 100%. When a pump operator pulls onto a job it is his job to keep everyone around him safe, if he cant do that then he shouldnt be there. And if the company wont stick by you then you should probably consider finding work elsewhere. If they trust you to take a half million dollar piece of equipment out everyday you would think they would trust your judgment on keeping it in one piece, and especially keeping the ones around you safe, a pump is replaceable, a persons life is not.

BigBoom

I know a lot of BB guys and they say the same thing. not safe - don't do it.

I worked for a company that thought you should call before saying no once. I didnt last long because, I dont follow those instructions well. It is always your option to say no.

 I had a guy recently that was starting to add too much water and, I asked him if he planned on tailgating it. He was already at an "8 slump after he added some. I told him he was going to segregate the mix so, I wouldnt pump it. We left it as it was.

What is your ACPA safety manual for. Read it, follow it. The problem begins because apparently this was written for no reason because no one practices what is supposed to be our Industry standard.

If everyone would figure it out that we are a specialty contractor, and are responsible for not only the safety of everyone on the jobsite while we are there (within our scope of work), our equipment and at the end of the day the Contractors budget, nothing will change, and you might as well throw the safety book away.

Money does not dictate safety, and stupidity costs money. Let's all figure this out and practice it as an Industry, not Competitors, then and only then may things change.

If you do not feel it is safe, and the boss says do it, maybe you should fire the boss! Because when it comes to liability, you are right their with it.